It's So Obscure
by IckieZiegler
Summary: Lulu makes a bet with Dante and then suffers the rather pleasant consequences. One-Shot


The trip was far from a vacation which made coming home the best part. They stood silently and listened to the familiar roar of the elevator as it took them inch by inch closer to the bed. Dante squeezed Lulu's hand in his while he held the suitcase they both managed to live out of for the past few days in the other. Finally the doors pulled apart and Lulu scooted the cage to let them in.

"Finally!" Michael scooped her up into a tight hug. Past him to the right was a giant banner that read "Welcome Home and Congratulations, Dante and Lulu" in a thick, black, and blocky font. "I'm so glad it's over and Franco is dead!" His mouth shut just as quickly has he had opened it. He dropped Lulu and moved to sit farthest away on the couch and slowly placed his head in his hands. "Is Jason in jail already?"

"Yeah, but I don't think it will be for long. After everything he did for this investigation, endangering himself for the safety of others, not fighting custody….I think he's owed a few favors. We'll work on it," Dante told him as he stuffed heaps of mixed laundry into drawers.

"That's definitely a change," His younger brother commented without complaint or cynicism.

"Yeah…that's not the only change…"

_They finally began to calm down after their third round of loudly making up. Both of them laid completely flat on their backs, and she lent him her entirely lose arm for him to absentmindedly intertwine their fingers then untangle them again. "We should probably get dressed."_

"Are you kidding? We should never put clothes on again."

"I'm sure that just what Michael need; being stuck with his cousin and his brother completely nude in a giant room with no walls."

"I thought you liked the loft."

"I love the loft, but it's one thing to have us running around nearly naked and tripping over each other. There's not enough space for three people here…which is why I should probably be heading home soon…"

"No…"He rolled himself over until he was half on top of her and pinning her to the bed.

"That's only going to work so many times." She let out in breaths as he placed butterfly kisses along her neck and shoulder.

"It's working now…" He leaded up to say cockily, but before he could even finish his thought she had rolled right from under him.

"Nope. We've made up enough already. I think we're good."

"We're definitely good. Have I said I'm sorry yet?"

"Maybe. You don't need to apologize again. Just tell me that you'll be careful again….maybe a few more times."

"I promise I'll be careful." His eyes directly blared into hers and her chest tightened as if something had just struck it with blunt force. She held her breath before it could all be sucked out of her body, and without thought she quickly gathered her clothes and all but ran to the bathroom. "Lulu… What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm just getting dressed," she shouted back in between shallow inhales. Her emotions were working their way up through her body starting at her toes, and not breathing was all she could do to keep it from letting it all out.

She bent down to pull up her pants and was greeted by his anxious face in the mirror. "It would probably be easier if you just cry. Or even better tell me why you want to cry in the first place."

"It's stupid. I'm just being stupid. Nervous and stupid. Seriously, don't worry about it." 

"Hey, baby. I got you something." Dante said frustratingly trying to push the glacially paced gate to the elevator out of his way. She felt a good giggle at the demonstration of his impatience, but before her laugh could be fully realized he had raced his way to her. He sat on the coffee table across from her and told her to close her eyes. "Okay," he said a moment later. The picture before her was the man she loved and a small black box settled into his firm hands.

"What's that?" she asked even though she knew, she knew she knew, but the forefront of her brain was completely void of thought. She couldn't take her eyes off the box. He scoffed at her reaction and opened up the little velvet case to reveal that she would have guess was there if she were in a more lucid state. "A ring. You got me a ring," she explained out loud.

"I got you a ring," he repeated as he lifted her limp hand to place the ring on her finger herself. "Technically I got you two rings, but you have to earn the other one first."

"I can't believe you got me a ring. Like it's actually going to happen."  
"It is going to happen. I have every intention of making you pay up." He stood up not letting his eyes leave hers, and then without warning he quickly leaned down to kiss her with the full on force of passion before disappearing out the door.

_"No. Tell me. You're still nervous about me losing my badge?"_

"No. It would be terrible but you could cope with that. I'm more worried about the you going to prison part… I know you. I know exactly what you would do if you had to go to prison for years… And this… us… everything is what you'd be throwing away… I'm not done with us yet."

"I'm not done with us either." For the second time in less than fifteen minutes he burrowed his large eyes into her entire being as if he was trying to scoop out her soul just by looking at her. "Tell me what I can do to... What do you need me to do? Other than go back on this deal." He pulled both her hands into his.

"Make me a deal," she said soberly nearly mimicking every other time a horrible but fruitful idea popped into her father's head. "If Jason up and runs…I don't think I would blame him. He went to jail for Michael, not because he was actually put there by the law, so really he almost doesn't deserve to be there. I know that you have a different opinion because he's definitely a criminal, but Jason is different. He's more methodical than Sonny, and he's the reason Sonny didn't get the chance to kill Ethan…" She closed her eyes and cleared her throat this time with the intention of being more calm and more importantly clear. "If Jason runs, then we run to." Dante opened his mouth to speak, but she ignored the deeply confused look on his face and continued. "We grab Michael and we run. We don't stop running until something works itself out, because you can't go to jail. If you go to jail then Michael will go to jail, and basically the bottom of Port Charles will fall out… just between me and your mother alone…"

"Okay." He had just watched her as she rambled on about things that had been systematically dismissed his mind, and after a moment the sound of her voice completely left his ears. All he could do was watch as new thoughts crept their way into his brain that he couldn't let go of. "Actually, lets make it a bet. If you win and Jason runs… you, me, and Michael will hit the road…"

"I'd hardly call that winning."

"Just listen." His eyes were focused and stern. "But if I win and Jason goes back to jail the second this is all over… If I win… You marry me." 

"Hey, Ma," Dante greeted as he leaned down to kiss his mother on the cheek before pulling out a chair for Lulu.

"Having coffee with the both of you… You have me scared. Like you're going to tell me you're getting married or something." She intended to joke before taking hold of her coffee. Their silence was a good indicator and both of them just looked at her. "Oh my… You're getting married!" She nearly yelled and almost unintentionally slammed her coffee back on the table. "Why didn't you tell me you were proposing!" She whacked at her son's shoulder with the back of her hand.

"Ma! I didn't propose."

"Lulu… propo… you proposed to Dante?" She turned to look at her entirely confused.

"No. I didn't propose. We made a bet and I lost."

"So, you're going to marry my son because you lost a bet."

"Well… I could do worse," Lulu joked with a smile at her almost-husband.

"You're going to marry my son," Olivia stated in deadpan. "I don't want to be rude because I know you love each other, but I have to ask. Are you pregnant?"

"Ma!"

"No. I'm not pregnant. We're just getting married… the day after tomorrow…"

"What! How are you going to get your grandparents, all your uncles, and all the cousins down her in less than two days?" She turned and yelled at Dante.

"We're not. We're only inviting a couple of people. We want it to be private. I wanted it to just be us and elope, but Lulu said she wouldn't marry me if you weren't there." His last words brought tears to his mother's eyes.

"Thank you," Olivia whispered to Lulu as she tried to compose herself. She cleared her throat. "So, how do we pull this off in such short time?"

"Everything is kind of done, but I would like a wedding dress. It's really the only traditional impulse I have. I was going to go look now, and I would really love it if you were to help me…look for my…wedding dress."

"She still gets flustered saying that." Dante smiled like an excited child ready to open Birthday presents. The same smile he gave when he was chasing her around trying to gain any amount of attention she would return.

Olivia ignored her son and reached for Lulu's hand across the table. She held it and through fresh salty streams running down her cheeks whispered, "I would love to."

_Her clothes had been newly discarded and thrown to the edge of the bed. This time in the post-coital bliss they laid on their sides facing each other as his hand casually brushed her hair behind her ear and off her shoulder. "We can't get married…" Her words betrayed the large smile that took over her face._

"Of course we can. Immediately after we get Franco and do what needs to be done with him… We just haul it to Vegas. A couple seconds later…"

"We can't elope."

"Why not?"

"Well… We don't know when or where you'll get Franco… so what if we end up in Vegas on your way home…you'll still have Jason, who would definitely run…and then I wouldn't have to pay up in the first place."

"Fine, then. We'll elope after I put Jason away again therefore insuring a legitimate win."

"We still can't elope."

"Again, I don't see the problem. Plus, it's my win so…"

"So… your mother would kill us. That is, of course, after she'd stop crying…if she'd stop crying."

"Fine then. If I win we'll have a wedding. A low key, small, and very quick wedding." 

Lulu gently placed the white garment bag across a chair before sitting down to take a good sip of the strong coffee the waitress had just freshly poured. Dante was ready to just run through the door and directly to her still high powered by the adrenaline pumping through him due to his impending martial status. The instant his eyes came across the bag he started to move in slow motion as if to be careful with his every step. "What's that?" He asked as he timidly lowered himself into his seat across from her. He looked from the bag, to her, to the coffee in front of him that he was now too scared to touch, and then back to her again. If it hadn't been for his ridiculously large smile she'd be worried she had done something wrong.

"That is my wedding dress."

"I thought you said you weren't going to get a wedding dress today."

"Apparently I say a lot of things won't happen that do. For example, I said I wouldn't date you… and now I have a wedding dress."

"I'm pretty talented that way. So, tell me about the shopping. How many dressed were you forced to try on?"

"Just one."

"You bought the first dress you tried on?"

"Yep. It was pretty much perfect in every way."

"Wow. That's some shopping trip."

"Yeah. Your mom picked it out." She gave him a sweet and nearly innocent smile. "Then, Olivia and I bonded over tequila shots. I think she was trying to scare me with stories about how pissed off your vast number of relatives will be for not only marrying a girl they've never met, but also not being invited to our wedding in the first place. Though, after she was done freaking me out she said it was probably for the better. She made a joke about mixing the Italians and the Irish too quickly, so I'm pretty sure it was just the alcohol settling in."

"Must have been some tequila."

"Yeah. Ethan and some of his 'friends' had a bender last night with the top shelf, so all that was left was the cheap stuff."

"You know, she's not wrong. My family is going to be upset for a little while, but I figure we'll just take a trip to Benson Hurst so you can met them, have a block party, and everything will turn out great."

"You know, since you won the bet…You can choose when we get married. If you want to wait until…"

"Nope. You're not getting out of it that easily. I won this bet fair and square and you are going to marry me."

"I've made peace with losing. I'm definitely okay with paying up now," she said while she stared into her coffee ready to take a good swig.

_"You know… this only matters if you win," she said sitting up against the backboard of the bed waiting for him to saunter over with their coffee._

"It definitely matters because I'm definitely going to win." He carefully sipped his coffee as he slipped his arm back around Lulu taking his place in bed. "So…do you want to plan the wedding now… or…"

"You're confidence isn't nearly as charming as you think it is."

"That's a lie and you know it." Instead of responding she took another long drink of her coffee so he continued, "Let's at least apply for the marriage license now. That way we don't have to wait even longer for it after Jason's back in jail. We can plan all the wedding details later." 

Dante nearly coked on air when he saw Lulu come off the elevator in her dress. It was modest but made her look like some kind of Greek Goddess which was only accentuated by her flowing curled hair. The dressed draped to the floor and then some so she had to carry the front as she walked. There were specks of blue, but that distracted from the bride herself. Not that she had ever considered herself the bride until she saw him looking at her in her dress.

They entered the courthouse together and waited for their turn in front of the judge. "This might be the least romantic wedding in history," Lulu's only attending brother commented to her only other guest. He waved to Dante's two guests consisting of his mother and his brother/his future wife's cousin.

"The Jackal disagrees. A hasty nuptial is less desired, but the intermingling of two souls is romantic… "

"Just stop talking," Ethan interrupted as she saw Dante and Lulu make their way their place before the judge.

They promised a life of love, to never run or hide, to never compromise or fear each other, to put them first, to always trust and support without fail, and to never falter alone for the rest of their lives together. As each of them said the words clearly to each other their eyes remained as connected as their hands. A small and minor giggle would escape among the tears that freely fell unnoticed. Then they exchanged wedding rings to symbolize their commitment to themselves and each other. Their representation to the world of a two lives bound together. The judge told Dante he could now kiss his wife and without hesitation Dante slipped an arm around her waist and a hand into her hair. A different, more passionate, and more patient kiss than they had ever practiced before.

The End.


End file.
